BlazBlue: Chaos Ascendant
by Geistalt
Summary: A Hazama clone/predecessor gradually gets introduced to the cast and initiates a not-so-evil plan and/or ploy to save the world from Terumi.
1. Chapter 1

At the eve of the year 2199, a green-haired man in a black suit awakened in the midst of a dense, dark forest.

The life in the forest was cloaked in a bizarre, black substance, from which a few strange creatures crawled forth.

 _Seithr._

The adult had no recollection of his life, and immediately panicked, lost and confused. He recognized his outfit as the standard attire for an officer of the Novis Orbis Librarium's Intelligence Department. He took a brief glance around the premises, half-expecting to find a matching hat.

After a few seconds of searching, he heard a loud rustling noise that indicated the nearby movement of at least one entity of remarkable size.

The purported intelligence officer dove through the forest until he found cover beneath a cluster of bushes. He rummaged through his pants' pockets, finding a balisong knife in each. Realizing he was only being pursued by one individual, he quickly caught sight of the stranger's footsteps.

"Who's there?!" the astonishingly deep-voiced wanderer demanded.

Getting a glimpse of the man in question, the intelligence officer noticed two things. The first feature the officer found noteworthy was the stranger's red jacket; the second, his big-ass sword.

 _That shouldn't be physically possible–for someone to walk around with a weapon like that. Its shape shouldn't be effective in combat, either. Furthermore, it's ridiculous that anyone would_ choose _to carry a weapon like that anywhere._

The white-haired stranger slowly scanned the environs from which he'd heard the officer's footsteps.

"Don't bother hiding; I know you're there!"

The intelligence officer looked in the opposite direction, setting his eyes on a massive city built around the sides of the mountain, towering in the distance.

"If you try threatening me, I'll tear your corpse to shreds!"

The intelligence officer considered running for a second, but soon decided he'd have better chances if he quietly waited around.

The well-built swordsman gradually drew closer, approaching the undergrowth under which the officer concealed himself.

He swiftly struck the thicket with his aerodynamically-inept blade, cleaving its branches, scattering them everywhere.

His face immediately conveyed an unfathomable measure of rage and surprise.

" _Terumi!_ " he screamed, preparing to deliver a deathblow.

The officer made a futile attempt to get out of range, taking a step back all too slowly, and reflexively opened a knife, raising it in an attempt to defend himself from the immense sword the stranger had swung over his right shoulder.

Before the weapon could reach a lethal momentum, however, a feminine voice in the air resounded, echoing, " _Stop!_ "

The stranger reluctantly dropped his weapon. He promptly embedded it into the ground and leaned on it, looking up as if to listen. The noise sounded as if it came from a radio, but both the swordsman and the green-haired officer knew better.

A communication ars.

"I suppose I owe you both an explanation," the voice resumed.

"I'm listening," the officer compliantly responded, "And who the hell is Terumi?"

"You don't know about the Six Heroes? Killed the Black Beast?" the voice inquired. "Anyways, Ragna, to sum it up, your Azure Grimoire's a fake."

The wanderer dropped his sword in shock, staring at his right arm with a gaping mouth.

The voice kept speaking, undeterred. "In fact, both your Azure Grimoires are counterfeits." The officer glanced around, the meaning of this lost on him. He easily recalled what a Grimoire was—an artifact that lets non-mages use seithr—but he'd never heard a thing about an Azure Grimoire.

After a few seconds, the stranger, Ragna, picked up his sword and began leaning against a tree, tilting his head back as if to listen. "Who are you, anyways?"

The voice answered, "I'll tell you after I finish my explanation. Now, this is probably going to be difficult to explain, but... this is one of several Terumi look-alikes. Almost like a clone."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Ragna demanded. "You mean to tell me there's more than one of that asshole running around on this planet?! And why would Terumi have an Azure G-"

Ragna's eyes widened, as if from a terrible revelation.

"Damn it... Nothing's changed! Nothing's ever going to change!"

He shoved his face into his hands, giving a gesticulation of frustration.

The officer wondered what he was rambling on about as he fretted over the Azure Grimoire.

The woman muttered something inaudible while Ragna underwent what resembled an emotional breakdown, returning to the discussion as soon as he was done lamenting. "As you've probably figured out by now, every one of Terumi's clones has had an Azure Grimoire. Most of them are dead, but I managed to recover one of them. I figured I'd test him out on you, but it's painfully clear that he wasn't ready. Now, it's your turn. Any questions?"

The officer took the opportunity the silence provided to ask some questions of his own.

"What exactly is an Azure Grimoire?" the intelligence officer requested.

"You see, the world is made of seithr. There are many different kinds of seithr. The seithr people's souls consist of is called the Azure. And, as you've probably concluded..." the woman informed him.

The officer interrupted her, finishing her sentence as he figured out the rest, "The Azure Grimoire runs on it."

"Precisely."

Ragna muttered, "Of course, I'd only get a counterfeit..."

"It's more complex than that," the woman replied. "Terumi doesn't have a real BlazBlue, either." She then proceeded to mention, "That's what people who use an Azure Grimoire call it, by the way."

The officer followed up by asking Ragna, "So, you and Terumi have history, eh, Mr. Broadsword?"

Ragna answered with an exasperated sigh. "Geez, I wonder how you figured that out. If you actually care to know, he kidnapped my sister, murdered my adoptive mother, burned down our house, and drove my brother insane."

"So, I'm some kind of clone?" the officer asked.

"That's not really the most accurate way of looking at it. You weren't made from cell culture or organic matter. You don't even have a skeleton... or normal organs, for that matter. You were made entirely out of seithr. And, for the most part, Terumi's 'clones' were made to serve as a host body."

The officer mulled over what he'd heard.

 _Well, that's a lot to take in…_

He wondered who the woman was, and what objective she salvaged him for.

"In any case, I figured you should know who I am before I leave to deal with other pressing concerns. My name's Professor Kokonoe Mercury. I'm kind of a big-shot Sector Seven scientist."

"So, whoever made these clones basically just made the Azure spew shit until it became a person?" the officer nonchalantly construed out loud.

"Essentially. It means you're an Azure Grimoire," Kokonoe replied, "which means your body's made of the seithr your creators had you spew out from the Boundary, which in turn means you're immune to the toxic effects of seithr."

"What a wonderful way to be born. So, what's my name?" the officer resumed.

Kokonoe began talking in a tone for which the adjectives "troubled" and "agitated" could only serve as an understatement. "Call yourself whatever you like. When I found you, you were designated as 'Ryouma.' If you care to be of any help, head towards the NOL branch at Kagutsuchi; I'll give you instructions later!"

The sun dawned in the east, slowly casting sunlight on the forest and the Hierarchical City beyond it.

"I'm heading there to smash a Cauldron, myself," Ragna declared, "so don't get in my way."

As the white-haired swordsman willfully paced towards the city, the officer mused over what he ought to do in the meanwhile.


	2. Chapter 2

The dawn had passed; Ryouma had wandered across a forest-belted path to the lower districts of Kagutsuchi, then casually made his way down a street. He slowly found his way into a division of the Hierarchical City called Orient Town. The district's vibrant buildings caught his attention, along with the colorful lanterns with which they were adorned. There was a multitude of Chinese-themed restaurants around the premises. The district's residents filled the roads, preparing festivities for the dawn of the century. Ryouma made his way across an alleyway, then trudged forward hesitantly upon feeling his foot get caught on something. He looked down and found a feline of unusual size in a hooded cloak.

"Meow..." the creature uttered.

He woke up from his early-morning daze in half a second, noticing that the fluffy, cloak-covered obstacle wasn't just a common cat, but a ditzy feline beastkin.

"I'm starving down here... meow..." the beastkin faintly remarked.

Ryouma checked his wallet and the contents therein, and swiftly surmised that he had more than enough Platinum Dollars to buy breakfast for himself and the beastkin both. He decided to mete out a measure of cash for her. He took out roughly half of what he estimated he'd have to spend for himself and kneeled, reaching out to her with the money in his hand, and calmly replied, with a charitable tone: "Here you go; go get yourself something."

"Meow! Thanks, green guy!" the beastkin excitedly responded, springing to life. "Tao'll make good use of this!"

As soon as he handed her the cash, he began experiencing an allergic reaction.

 _Wel_ _l, that's n_ _ot good._

He briskly strolled towards a restaurant, and "Tao" followed, shouting with social impunity. In spite of the scene the mentally inhibited beastkin was making, few of the Orient Town residents found her actions worthy of their attention.

"Would you mind staying away from me?" the "officer" asked the adolescent beastkin. "I'm allergic to cats."

"Okay, green guy! Tao'll be extra careful to not touch you anymeowre..."

They approached a restaurant he decided would probably be a decent spot to get breakfast at. The officer scanned for a table that hadn't already been taken as they walked in.

He found a table, telling Tao, "If you want, you can have breakfast with me."

"That's real nice of you, meow..." Tao responded.

After their orders were brought to the table and they began dining together, Tao remarked, "Mmm... this is yummy! You're good people, green guy!"

"So, what's your story?" the artificial human inquired.

"Tao was hoping you'd ask!"

"It's a long and sad tale..." Tao woefully commented, "which I've just so happened to practice telling in the mirror!" she cheerfully added.

She cleared her throat, reciting, "Tao lives in the Kaka Village. Everybody who lives there looks like Tao! Cool, right?! But the sun doesn't shine in our village anymore."

She donned a depressed face, continuing, "Now our naps totally suck, and it's tough to find food. So, Tao scampered out into the world on a mission to save her friends!"

"Although it appears as if you went hungry and got distracted in the process," Ryouma replied. "What do you plan to do for your village in the long run?"

"Kaka Village needs food money, so Tao decided to become one of those bad-guy-catching thingies, so she can earn tons and tons of mewlah! You know! A wedgie-lante! Or is it vigilantern?"

"I believe you mean 'vigilante,'" Ryouma responded.

"Yeah! That thingie! Right now, I'm a vigi-looking for this guy!"

She handed him a poster that was clearly meant to depict Ragna the Bloodedge, the swordsman he encountered earlier that morning.

"The super-evil hisshiss-class criminal: Rawrgna the Bloodfridge!" Tao exclaimed.

Ryouma reflected to himself how little the image resembled him.

After they spent about half an hour at the restaurant, a waitress arrived with a check.

Tao leaned back, prepared to doze off. Ryouma turned to the waitress, astonished by how much the beastkin had consumed—although he still had enough Platinum Dollars to pay for the meal; it appeared as if Kokonoe had left him more than enough money for a couple of weeks.

He took some cash out of the wallet he'd been left with, and put enough money on the table to pay for his part of the bill.

Ryouma drew attention to the scene they were making, loudly pointing out, "Tao, you should probably pay for your meal."

Tao glanced at the check, interjecting, "Meow?!"

"There's no way Tao can pay for this by herself!" she shouted. "Green guy should've given Tao more money!"

"Don't expect others to pay for your meals. Looks like you're learning the first rule of being a vigilante: always manage your money well," he commented. "After all, if you can't take care of yourself, there's little chance you'll reach your target to begin with."

The waitress made her way back to the table, exclaiming in a stereotypical Chinese accent, "Excuse me, but did you just say you no can pay?! I almost certain that's what you say!"

"You really ought to get a job," Ryouma finished.

"Stop blaming Tao!" Tao furiously protested.

"Could we get two separate bills?" he requested, preparing to walk out on Tao.

"Yes, sir," the waitress nervously replied, apparently taking note of his uniform.

She returned a couple of minutes later with two checks. Tao put on a furious expression under her mask as the "officer" got up and walked away. He ripped up the first check and threw it in the trash as he almost callously strolled out.

Ryouma stepped outside, noting how late it had grown. The streets were now gleaming in the heat of the sun. Considering how much time had passed, Ryouma resolved to get to the Library as soon as possible.

After about an hour of wandering, he found his way to a district called the "Hanging Gardens." From there, he reached Area No.1 of Kagutsuchi: the local headquarters of the Novus Orbis Librarium. Almost naturally, none of the soldiers nearby questioned anything about him.

As the day passed, Ryouma saw fewer and fewer soldiers with no explanation whatsoever.

 _That's odd..._ he mused to himself, finding buildings and rooms with ars magus tech and equipment that he expected to be more heavily guarded.

After finding a secluded alcove in front of the NOL cathedral, he once again heard Kokonoe's demanding voice resound throughout the air.

"So, you've finally gotten to the NOL branch. It took you long enough."

"Just tell me what you want me to do," Ryouma replied.

"It's more of a matter of what I _need_ you to do," the professor answered. "Anyways, keep your eyes out for a First Lieutenant in the 4th Thaumaturgist Squadron. Her name's Noel Vermillion."

Ryouma took the moment to remind himself about the standard uniform for the Praetorian Guard.

"Would you happen to have any other pertinent information I could use to identify her?" he asked.

"She's got blonde hair and green eyes," Kokonoe responded, "and recent intel suggests she's on a mission to subdue Major Jin Kisaragi."

"...who?" Ryouma asked, clueless.

"The Hero of Ikaruga," Kokonoe replied, "the guy who ended the Ikaruga Civil War."

"Doesn't ring any bells," Ryouma answered.

"Whatever. Just wait in the cathedral until she gets there," Kokonoe ordered, "'cause this is happening _way_ faster than I expected it would."

"Where do you expect to find this Lieutenant right now?" Ryouma requested.

"We found her at a drawbridge in the 21st district about half an hour ago," Kokonoe answered. "That information's useless now, since she left almost immediately. Try to get her to follow you if you see her."

He paced across the cathedral, staying on the lookout.

"By the way: are you going to keep discouraging me while I do whatever task you throw my way?" Ryouma asked. "I can't honestly tell if your ingratitude's deliberate."

"Sorry," Kokonoe responded. "I'm just a little short on time, and I would've appreciated it if you got there a bit sooner. For all I know, you could've already missed her."

"Got it," Ryouma replied.

Across the room, he heard a scream from a familiar, unreasonably rough voice.

"JIN!"

 _That doesn't sound like a_ _woman..._

Ryouma immediately tried to call Kokonoe with an intervention ars of his own. He stopped, realizing he hadn't the slightest idea of where she was. He heard a voice from the side of the hallway through which he'd entered the cathedral.

"Cap-" a feminine voice asked hesitantly, interrupting itself. "Mr. Hazama?"

He turned around and caught sight of a young girl who fit the professor's description to a T.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" he asked politely—as if he'd known her for ages.

The guard stopped sounding nervous, reassured. "You said you wanted me here as soon as possible."

"Ah, yes. Quick, follow me; there's no time to explain!" Ryouma yelled, waving at her. He sprinted down the hall with her, leading her out of the cathedral unquestioned.

 _Almost out of here..._

That was when it happened.

Ryouma felt a sudden pain pierce his chest.

The second thought that hit him was one of grief and terror, as if he had just experienced a heart-wrenching loss and the best possible option was to die.

"AGH!" he cried out.

"You _dumbass._ " The would-be intelligence officer heard a begrudging voice echo across the hall.

"What's going on?!" Noel asked.

Ryouma crawled around to get a look at the assailant. Down the hall, he saw a green-haired newcomer in a black suit and a fedora advancing on his position, eyes wide open, with a contemptuous grimace that would put frown memes to shame.

Ryouma was struck by his anguish and impending death at the sight of this bizarre being, and couldn't take his mind off of how much of a shitty failure he was.

He kept his mind on how fucked up his short life had been, hoping to distract himself from the unfathomable regret and sorrow the identical stranger incited.

"You stupid sack of shit, you couldn't bring yourself to defy others' orders for _one_ goddamn minute! Now, this world, a world I've spent a _century_ of work on, this world's going straight to hell. There's nothing I can do about it, but, _oh_ , am I going to relish hearing you scream!"

"Who... ARE YOU?!" Noel demanded.

It was hard to tell whom.

Ryouma identified the weapon Terumi wounded him with as the eighth Nox Nyctores Causality Weapon, Ouroboros; not an Armagus any sane person would want to be hit by.

"Ah; you must be Terumi," Ryouma added. "It's time to start running, Noel!"

"Not until I figure out what's going on!" she replied, summoning Bolverk, the third Causality Weapon.

She pointed the Nox Nyctores at Terumi's head.

"Maybe there's still time..." he muttered. "Listen, dolly: forget what happened here and go get to Ragna in the basement!"

Noel looked reluctant at first—then her arms went limp while Terumi shanked the back of her head with Ouroboros.

Ryouma lost consciousness; everything dissolved into a torrent of red.


	3. Chapter 3

Ryouma awakened to the gentle brick pavement of an old, Gothic castle. He got off the ground in a panic, finding himself in a courtyard filled with roses. The fence encompassing the courtyard was decorated with lampposts with jack-o-lanterns on top of them. Each of the jack-o-lanterns wore a black hat.

Ryouma spent the moment trying to remember what happened before he woke up. There was Yuuki Terumi, some demonic entity who created him to serve as a host for his soul, and stabbed him in the back with the Causality Weapon Ouroboros while he sought to ruin his plan by leading some girl named Noel Vermillion, a First Lieutenant of the NOL's Fourth Thaumaturgist Squadron, away from him.

He heard a quiet, feminine voice with an English accent sound off nearby.

"It appears as if our guest has risen from his repose."

He turned to face the source of the voice, finding a blonde girl with red eyes who hardly appeared more than ten years old. She donned a faux-Goth black dress with red crosses, and had a pair of black ribbons in her hair. With her were what appeared to be a pair of living stuffed animals, one of whom resembled a red-hued cross between a bat and a pig. The other was evidently fashioned after a black cat. For some reason, Ryouma wasn't unnerved by this.

"Pleased to meet you," he told the girl. "Would you mind telling me your name? And where exactly am I?"

"I don't usually introduce myself to strangers so quickly, but I suppose I ought to give you my name, considering how long you've spent under my care. My name is Rachel Alucard," she introduced herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you, as well. This realm, Moonlight Castle, is my domain."

It was at that time that he noticed the vivid moon scintillating overhead. He wondered what she meant by "this realm."

 _Am I on Earth, somewhere in the Boundary, or someplace different altogether?_

"We're not in the Boundary, in case you're curious," Rachel comments, continuing, "Rather, this is a reality that I observe, much like the machine that controls your own. You exist here because I allowed it."

"Madam Rachel, I've finished preparing your tea," a butler declared as he approached the girl, carrying a teacup—which he proceeded to set on an adjacent table.

"What machine? Please, tell me more," Ryouma responded.

"The construct that observes your world, Takamagahara, was created by humans to replace the god who already did: the Master Unit, Amaterasu."

"What, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?" Ryouma requested.

"Observation... is the ability to behold interactions between any number of things from a given point in time until one attains a desired result," Rachel answered hesitantly.

Ryouma's mind spun with questions.

 _Someone with that authority could destroy and recreate the world as many times as they want from whatever point in history they want—or mix different pasts together._

"What happened?" he asked, his thoughts running rampant.

"I was just about to relate that," Rachel replied. "While Yuuki Terumi was busy manipulating Noel Vermillion's mind to convince her to pursue Ragna the Bloodedge, I brought you here."

"What exactly are you?" he went on.

"The answer should have been blatant. I am a vampire," she answered.

Ryouma imagined how old she might be, responding, "You're serious."

"Why wouldn't I be?" she demanded, apparently offended.

"I take it your butler is not just a butler," Ryouma added.

The old man looked rather unnerved by that statement.

"Let me introduce you to Valkenhayn R. Hellsing," Rachel commented. "He happens to be one of the Six Heroes."

"You should deem yourself privileged to have an audience with Madam Rachel, let alone to be introduced to her within a mere minute of encountering her," Valkenhayn declared.

"Understood," Ryouma answered with a bow.

"Well, it appears as if this shell has some sense of propriety," Valkenhayn contently stated, resuming, "I commend your efforts to behave like a proper gentleman."

"Would you kindly tell me what day it is?" Ryouma requested.

"It's the first day of January," Rachel replied.

"I'm surprised I recovered so quickly," Ryouma responded.

"Time moves about one fourth as quickly here as it does in your world," Rachel explained. "Although being made from an Azure Grimoire allowed you to heal more quickly than an ordinary human, you've spent over three days in this realm."

"What does Terumi want, anyways?" Ryouma asked.

"That man... His desire is to fill the world with as much misery as it can possibly withstand," she answered. "Although, if you were referring to what he desired at the moment you went unconscious in particular, he attempted to preclude the time reset Takamagahara would've enacted by sending Noel Vermillion to rescue Ragna the Bloodedge."

Ryouma drew all the conclusions his mind granted him, reacting, "So, she had to rescue Ragna to prevent the world from resetting. Then I suppose all the work I did was for naught. Ah, well."

"Correct," Rachel explained, "although you can still be of aid."

"I take it that the reason Kokonoe isn't currently yelling at me is because she and her attempts to communicate aren't allowed in here," Ryouma discussed.

"You're correct yet again," Rachel continued. "This place exists outside of Logic, which is to say that even communication ars cannot permeate it if I refuse to witness it, nor can any other form or use of seithr."

"Does everything found in the Boundary need an Observer?" Ryouma asked.

"Yes," Rachel replied. "If anything wasn't observed, it would immediately cease to exist, and the moment one becomes an Observer, such as Kokonoe, is the moment one begins observing oneself. Everything that exists must be observed by someone."

"Was Kokonoe an Observer before she found me?" Ryouma requested.

"Of course she was," Rachel responded.

"Before you send me back to Kagutsuchi, I'd like to know: what do you intend to have me help with?" Ryouma asked.

"There are a few lost souls you can help mend," Rachel answered, "and I would like to see what Kokonoe has in store for you."

"If you would be kind enough to suffer it, I have one final question: what did Noel save Ragna from?" he asked.

"In a sense, she saved Ragna from himself," Rachel remarked. "He activated his Azure Grimoire when he went to the basement of the Kagutsuchi NOL branch. Every time he did that before attempting to destroy the Cauldron, he awakened a Murakumo Unit named Nu-13. If it hadn't been for Noel, he would have fallen into the Cauldron, fused with Nu-13, and become a new Black Beast. The only timelines in which Takamagahara has ever observed the world beyond that date are those in which the Black Beast isn't recreated."

 _Oh._

"I see," Ryouma stated.

 _Murakumo Units are the tenth Nox Nyctores Causality Weapons,_ he recalled.

He swiftly concluded that they must have been specifically designed to destroy universal Observers.

"I appreciate that you put up with giving me information this long, Lady Alucard. Thanks for letting me know."

"It's hardly any trouble for me; least of all here..." she responded.

"But you really must be going, now," Rachel finished.

And, with that, she opened a portal to Kagutsuchi.


End file.
